15 November 2011
City of London Corporation Planning & Highways committee
decides to re-commence legal process to move tents off highway at
St Paul’s
Today (Tuesday) the Planning and Transportation Committee
of the City of London Corporation voted to continue with legal
action to clear tents from public highways around St Paul’s.
The decision was taken after hearing legal advice in relation to
its Highways Act responsibilities.
Stuart Fraser, Policy Chairman of the City of London
Corporation, said after the meeting:
‘We paused legal action for two weeks for talks with those in
the camp on how to shrink the extent of the tents and to set a
departure date – but got nowhere. So, sadly, now they have rejected
a reasonable offer to let them stay until the New Year, it’s got to
be the courts. We’d still like to sort this without court action
but from now on we will have to have any talks in parallel with
court action – not instead.’
‘We are getting reports about vulnerable people, cases of
late-night drinking and other worrying trends, so it’s time to act.
It will clearly take time but we are determined to see this
through.
‘Lawful protesters who stand or walk are a regular part of
London. But tents, equipment and now, increasingly, quite a lot of
mess, is not what a highway is for and others are losing out. The
likely stages are detailed in the Notes to editors but
begin today with a letter to the legal firm representing some of
those in tents. A notice to tent users is likely to follow on
Wednesday.
Ends
Notes to editors
- Simplified note of legal steps: Step 1:
(today): A letter to the legal firm representing some of
those in tents, saying that the legal process was back in motion
and asking for the tents and equipment to move.Step 2 (on
Wednesday): A notice to those with tents and equipment on
the highway near St Paul’s asking them to move these items within
24 hours. Step 3 (if tents and equipment remain):
Proceedings will be issued in the High Court. Step
4: Further attempts will be made to reach an agreement,
backed up by a consent order, to avoid costly court hearings.
Step 5: the Planning and Transportation
Committee meets again to take a decision on enforcement action,
assuming the City of London Corporation succeeds in the court
proceedings. Court action is likely to take weeks and no
enforcement action will take place without a further committee
debate.
- An approximate map showing the maintained public highway around
St Paul’s is shown below. The hatched area is public highway and
the dark semicircle area permissive paths.
- Details about the City of London Corporation on
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk and
information about the St Paul’s issue on
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/stpauls
- About the City of London Corporation
The City of London Corporation supports and promotes the City as a
world leader in international financial and business services and
provides local services and policing for those working in, living
in and visiting the Square Mile. It also provides valued services
to London and the nation. These include the Barbican Centre and the
Guildhall School of Music & Drama; the Guildhall Library and
Art Gallery and London Metropolitan Archive; a range of education
provision (including three City Academies); five Thames bridges
(including Tower Bridge and the Millennium Bridge); the Central
Criminal Court at Old Bailey; over 10,000 acres of open spaces
(including Hampstead Heath and Epping Forest), and three wholesale
food markets. It is also London’s Port Health Authority and runs
the Animal Reception Centre at Heathrow. It works in partnership
with neighbouring boroughs on the regeneration of surrounding areas
and the City Bridge Trust, which it oversees, donates more than
£15m to charity annually.